Oprah endorses Harris at DNC: Freedom 'requires standing up to life's bullies'
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey made an unscheduled appearance Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention, where she delivered something of a sermon for the cheering crowd.
“Good evening everybody! Who says you can't go home again?” she told the crowd in Chicago, where she broadcast her show for decades.
The famed billionaire entrepreneur made a direct pitch for Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she would offer more “joy” compared to the darker warnings of former President Donald Trump. Many other speakers throughout the Democratic convention have echoed that message.
She also made “freedom” and “the best of America” the themes of her surprise primetime speech.
?? ‘Freedom’
"I am so honored to have been asked to speak on tonight's theme about what matters most to me, to you, and to all of us Americans: freedom," Winfrey said to open her address.
"There are people who want you to see our country as a nation of us against them, people who want to scare you, people who want to rule you. People who'd have you believe that books are dangerous and assault rifles are safe. That there's a right way to worship and a wrong way to love. People who seek first to divide and then to conquer. But here's the thing: When we stand together, it's impossible to conquer us," she said.
But Winfrey added a note of caution.
"Freedom isn't free,” she said. “America is an ongoing project. It requires commitment. It requires being open to the hard work and the heart work of democracy. And every now and then it requires standing up to life's bullies."
?? Dings at Trump and Vance
Winfrey later took a dig at Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance's now-infamous 2021 quip about "childless cat ladies" supposedly leading the Democratic Party.
"Despite what some would have you think, we are not so different from our neighbors. When a house is on fire, we don't ask about the homeowner's race or religion. We don't wonder who their partner is or how they voted. No! We just try to do the best we can to save them. And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out too," she said to laughter.
She also took an implied shot at Trump's “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan. “Let us choose the sweet promise of tomorrow over the bitter return to yesterday.”
“We are beyond ridiculous tweets and lies and foolery,” she jabbed later. “These are complicated times, people, and they require adult conversation. And I welcome those conversations, because civilized debate is vital to democracy, and it is the best of America.”
??Presenting Harris as an inspiration figure
Winfrey told the story of how Harris was bused across Berkeley, Calif., to help integrate the city’s public schools.
"It seems to me that at school and at home, somebody did a beautiful job of showing this young girl how to challenge the people at the top and empower the people at the bottom,” she added.
Winfrey quickly pivoted to paint Harris as someone with an inspirational outlook on life who can inspire others.
“They showed her how to look at the world and see not just what is but what can be,” she continued. “They instilled in her a passion for justice and freedom and the glorious fighting spirit necessary to pursue that passion. And soon and very soon — soon and very soon! — we’re going to be teaching our daughters and sons how this child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, two idealistic, energetic immigrants — immigrants — how this child grew up to become the 47th president of the United States! That is the best of America!”
She closed her speech by saying: “So let us choose truth. Let us choose honor. And let us choose joooooooooooooooy! Because that's the best of America.”
